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5 Techniques to Detect You are Talking with a Chronic Liar

Lies are easily detectable but to detect someone who lies severely is a different story.

For chronic liars, spilling lies is already a habit. They will do it straight to your face without hesitation.Their guts might be unbelievable that you can't do anything against it but not to trust them anymore.

It might be difficult to tell if that chronic liar is already telling the truth but there are five indications to help you out:1. Generalizing"I always do x." "I never do y." Etc.Nuance is a pathological liar's enemy. Fibbers love to hide behind generalizations — about themselves and those around them. Since reality is complex, and usually forces you to confront an unpleasant truth somewhere along the way, people who lie often rely on big, general statements to avoid... what was that again? Oh yes, conflict and responsibility.

2. Excess defensiveness and suspicionIf you question a liar's story, chances are they'll defend it with everything they've got. They'll justify their actions and try to make it clear that they have always been right — sometimes even when you don't call them into question. When they're defensive without even having been attacked, it's a strong sign that they're anxious about being found out and preemptively angry that someone could see through them.The flip side of a liar's defensiveness is being suspicious without reason. It's common, for instance, for a cheating spouse to accuse the cheated-on spouse of cheating. As if a liar expects other people to be doing the same thing they're doing. Or perhaps, they want to keep other people on the defensive to evade — yep, that again — the real conflict and their own responsibility.

3. Emphasizing their own honesty"Believe me" is a phrase we've heard a lot over the past year, and one tycoon-turned-President has even been called out for over-using it. It's actually one of the classic calling cards of chronic liars: they have a tendency to add phrases like, "I'm being completely honest" and "I'm telling you the truth" without prompting. They're anticipating someone catching them out, and trying to insist on their honesty in advance.4. Avoiding the word "I"Apparently liars don't like to place themselves in the center of their invented stories. That would feel too weird for them, so a lot of them avoid using the word "I" which brings more responsibility with it. To avoid having a share in the liability, they'll say "we" or simply "she" and "he."

A study from the University of Texas had researchers analyzing written narratives and they discovered that people who were lying not only used the word "I" less often, they also steered clear of exemptive words such as "but" and "except." The study noted that liars tended to use words more often that were associated with negative emotions, like "hate," "worthless," "sad," and "angry."5. Unnecessarily detailed storiesSometimes when a person is late, doesn't show up at all, or screws up in some other way, they'll try to justify their mistake with an elaborate story. The classic bad liar's trick is to fill the story with so much detail that it will sound utterly real. Though of course, when we're telling the truth, most of us don't include that much detail unless it's really necessary.

A liar might recall exactly what time something happened, when it's not relevant, or add in odd specifics about what people were wearing, etc. If you feel like you're hearing a bunch of unnecessary minutiae, step back and check whether the whole thing is an excuse.Source: Health HacksImage: WikiHow